Andrew Ng: Everyone Should Master Deep Learning

According to Andrew Ng everyone should master deep learning. His free online courses at deeplearning,ai and a new $150 million AI Fund should do just that.

We–like any self-respecting technology nerd–love the Andys helping to advance our tech economy. One of our favorites, Andrew Ng, wants millions of people to learn Deep Learning and build an AI-enabled society.

Andrew Ng on Twitter @andrewyng | Twitter.com

He started Google’s Brain project and Coursera. He teaches at Standford University and serves as chief scientist at Baidu.

It’s hard to say Andrew Ng hasn’t always been doing big things.

Yet, we think he’s up to something massive.

Our prediction that Google’s overarching AI platform would be named Andy might not have been it, but it’s close.

After Ng’s Coursera Deep Learning courses have attracted some two million students, the AI wizard is looking to put all of his time and resources into teaching AI concepts and supporting those that research and develop related technologies.

For those looking to a tech-prophet to guide them into the next evolution of our technological economy, Andrew may very well be your guy.

What’s Andrew Ng up to?

In a recent interview with MIT Technology Review, Andrew Ng laid out his vision for the future. This automated utopia is one where, as Ng says, “I think the world will just be better if AI is helping us.”

For those of you who might fear automation as a job killer, notice how Ng says AI should have a role in “helping” us and not “replacing” us.

Coursera and Deeplearning.ai

Andrew tells MIT that even though large tech companies have already implemented AI to improve search engines, payment systems, online maps and advertising, there is still a lot of work to be done to advance AI.

This is work that Ng says can’t be done just by one company or a few companies. Everyone and everyone’s talents can be bolstered by AI to help fill in the gaps, echoing the fact that collaboration helps refine and expedite the development of valuable technologies.

“I think the only way to get there is if we teach millions of people to use these AI tools so they can go and invent the things that no large company, or company I could build, could do,” says Ng.

This means that instead of a handful of companies developing services that they think the market might want, actual people can develop the tools that they actually need. This is the difference between a top down guessing game and a more comprehensive bottom up approach to true market demand.

As you may know, Coursera and Deeplearning.ai by way of Coursera are free online classrooms. If you’re interested in enrolling in these Deep Learning courses or you want to know more about what is required, check out the enrollment page here.

Andrew Ng’s $150 Million AI Fund

Going further than just initiating Deep Learning newcomers, Andrew Ng created an AI Fund to target and support promising AI-related tech startups; An SEC filing for the fund was first spotted by PE Hub.

Not a ton of information has come out about Andrew’s AI Fund, but as someone so intimately aware of the state of AI development in the U.S. and elsewhere, the venture capital funds are sure to assist some of the most innovative AI startups out there.

As TechCrunch reported, 2017 has been an exciting year for AI startup venture capital funds.

Between Basis Set Ventures, Element.Ai, and Toyota, over $300 million USD in AI startup venture capital funds have been created.

AI Seems Inevitable

Between the recent practical applications of AI systems (including some startups that use an algorithm capable of delivering accurate legal advice)and the rise in huge venture capital funds, artificial intelligence continues to gain steam.

Important figures within the field of AI like Andrew Ng are likely to rally many more pioneering minds to his cause.

What kind of tools would you build with AI?

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